Abdur Rahman Khan

8am: For more than a century, since the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan, Afghan politics has revolved around a recurring pattern: to preserve stability, the center of power co-opts part of the ethnic elite while sidelining the rest. I call this the “Abdur Rahman Scenario”: concentration at the center, concession at the margins, and the exclusion of justice from the core. This system of co-optation and control may have prevented short-term uprisings, but it eroded institutions and replaced merit-based competition with a culture of patronage. From the Durrani and Barakzai rulers to the republic’s presidents, the same logic endured: loyalty is rewarded, not competence, and power depends on ethnic and personal networks rather than law. Click here to read more (external link).